


Keeper Of The Ruins

by Vio_lence



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Adult!Asriel, Aged Up, Fem!Chara, Gen, Male!Frisk, OOC, UST
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:09:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25281400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vio_lence/pseuds/Vio_lence
Summary: "I think you were trying to eat me a minute ago, not me," the girl shrugged, but still stared at him, waiting for an answer. "No. I don't eat people. Monsters don't eat people at all. Have you ever seen monsters?""You first," she nods, then leans back on the bed, feeling the fabric of the blanket and sheet in disbelief."You're the first person I've ever seen."////AU: Asriel grew up and guards the Ruins. Monsters age much more slowly than humans.
Relationships: Chara/Asriel Dreemurr
Kudos: 12





	Keeper Of The Ruins

Asriel had always liked Ruins.

In truth, there is only a word for "Ruins" here — these catacombs look old, but once you get into this place, study it up and down, you will not forget about it at all. But monsters don't like these places — it's cramped, quiet, and there's nothing to do. Monsters are not to blame, because so large, at first glance, the Dungeon is also tight and boring. It's just that there are more monsters here, they swarm, chatter, distract each other from depressing thoughts.

But Asriel had always liked the Ruins.

His mother likes to tell how long ago she ran with her father to the very beginning of the Ruins, in a small cave where there was a hole high up, and from the hole at night you can see the sky and a scattering of small stars. My mother's eyes are so soft and warm that he is ready to ask again and again, just to see that look again.

Asriel is a little Prince, but other children avoid him. The monsters have a clear monarchy, and he is their future ruler. They are afraid, they can't say anything against it, and Asriel escapes. into ruins. Because there are hermits living in Ruins, no one cares about anyone there, it is very rare to meet anyone, and if you do, they will not give you a drooping look, not even in your eyes, but at your feet, because the old generation has pushed into young heads that you _can not look at the face of the king_. He would have stayed here forever.

And when he gets old enough, he stays.

Forever.

***

To be honest, Asriel had never seen a human in his life.

The war was over long before he was born. For a long time, the parents could not decide on such a desperate step, worrying about their people, because despair overwhelmed them. He is not at all angry with them for this, of course not, because it is selfish, and it is worth admitting that if he were born in such a troubled time, he would not be himself. Isn't that right?

So when he saw a child-sized creature at the very beginning of the Ruins, he didn't even know how to react. It had no fur, no scales; it was not made of fire, water, or metal; it was completely material.

So when he saw a child-sized creature at the very beginning of the Ruins, he didn't even know how to react. It had no fur, no scales; it was not made of fire, water, or metal; it was completely material.

Asriel hesitated, not knowing whether to approach it, but then there was a groan of pain, and there was no more time to think — he dropped everything and fell to his knees beside it, carefully (too carefully) turning the creature face up. If this is really a person, then they are very, very strange, and do not coincide with his ideas at all. And even not very deep wounds are incredibly difficult to heal — Dreemurr literally exhausted, while a wide wound on his stomach and small cuts were being healed. She must have cut herself on the sharp stones on the walls as she fell.

Interesting fact: people are light. Although it was a child, it was very light, and its build was rather bony, he noticed. Literally _skin and bones_.

(Or briefly about why it's bad to leave a receptive child with a terrific scientist but a terrible prankster.)

Asriel's house is small: a living room, a kitchen, and three living rooms. Or not quite residential. He's never looked into the third, but he's sure it's a mess. And the first two are enough for him, and even then, Asriel never thought why he was keeping the nursery clean.

Did you expect guests? Well, they came soon enough.

Asriel didn't know what he expected from the man: thanks or explanations. Or maybe all at once. But what she'd done when she'd woken up wasn't on the list.

"Ah!" The monster snatched back the hand that had been resting on the child's forehead. Girl (if he understood correctly) bite him. Bitten! "What are you biting at?"

The human hissed with pain in his stomach — after all, Asriel didn't have enough magic to fully heal him — but he sat up on the bed and stared at his hands, then at the room, and then at His rescuer. The girl has red eyes. An image of her mother and her soft red eyes flashed into my mind. One image mingled with another, and Asriel shuddered: the rumpled, tired look of the child had just created the most terrifying image that would surely haunt him in his nightmares.

"Are you a monster?" the girl's voice is no less tired than it looks, but it is hoarse, as if she has been shouting for a long time without interruption, and at the very end it breaks. Exactly the same as something breaking in her eyes. Asriel rubs her hand, but nods, afraid to spoil it. "My name… Chara. I'm a victim. Will you eat me?"

The last question sounds quite naive, with some incomprehensible statement of fact, as if everything should be exactly like this, and not otherwise, as if she was raised this way — to be ready for slaughter. Asriel, to be honest, is afraid of such a simple-minded look. He chuckles nervously, crossing his arms over his chest in a pathetic attempt to control a treacherous shiver.

"I think you were trying to eat me a minute ago, not me," the girl shrugged, but still stared at him, waiting for an answer. "No. I don't eat people. Monsters don't eat people at all. Have you ever seen monsters?"

"You first," she nods, then leans back on the bed, feeling the fabric of the blanket and sheet in disbelief.

"You're the first person I've ever seen."

"Then do what you want."

"What?" Asriel frowned.

"Do what you want," Chara repeats, but she doesn't take her eyes off the ceiling. "I'm still your victim, I can't go back to the village."

There is an engrossing silence in the room. Chara listens: the monster breathes a little heavily, as if holding back something, then sighs loudly through his teeth. Monsters don't eat people. What an unfortunate mistake. It was a useless sacrifice. There was a faint rustle of fabric, and then the thud of hands on knees.

"Well, I should get on with dinner," the child turns a dim but slightly puzzled look at the monster, and the monster catches it, clumsily rising from the chair. "What? You said yourself that I can do what I want with you. And the only thing I want to do is feed you. Or aren't you hungry?"

Her stomach rumbled softly, reminding her of yesterday's poor meal. She knew that today she was being led to the slaughter, so she did not touch the last Breakfast… Yes, she was hungry as hell.

"That's good."

***

In all the years he had spent in the Ruins, Asriel had become completely unaccustomed to any kind of communication.

The only times he talks to Chara are when the girl is clowning. She shamelessly bursts into his room, takes books from the shelf, makes a mess there, and then — runs away. And once she had stolen the key to a back room that Asriel had put off visiting until a better time, and caused such a fuss that Chara was covered in dust from head to foot. She loudly coughed and sneezed that Dreemurr was not able to lecture under the oppressive scarlet eyes. He understood perfectly. The girl didn't do all this on her own whim, she just… Probing the ground? Yes, I was looking for my limits.

This is why Asriel has _never_ been able to give a really severe scolding, the way his mother did when he was a child. But the girl was dragged by the scruff of the neck to the bathroom to bathe. It struggled and bit, but Dreemurr did not let it go until there was not an ounce of dust left on the child. Then there was the cleaning of the same room — well, do not leave it in this form? And a couple of hours later, when he returned to the living room, he noticed that Chara had not moved, just as she had been sitting in front of the fireplace, wrapped from head to foot in a towel, and still sat there. Except that she muttered something to herself. He still didn't know what had shocked her, but from that moment on, all the pranks stopped.

Asriel doesn't remember much about her mother's stories about people — it's a painful topic, an unloved topic. He never brought them up, and Toriel only remembered things now and then. All he could remember was writing it down in a small diary. This was so little that I felt ashamed. But every day, every week, every month — the records became more and more, until there was not enough space at all. Then the second diary appeared. Then a third. Fourth.

But there was one question that bothered him.

"Why haven't you left yet?" he flew off without thinking. Asriel didn't even realize how harsh it sounded until Chara almost dropped one of the dinner plates as she set it out. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she pursed her lips, hiding his eyes behind the bangs, and Dreemurr like clicked in my head. This was what she did when it was difficult to tell the truth, to admit something. He knows it well, has learned all its habits, but still hardly understood it. "Where should I go… Leave?"

"You know about the Dungeon outside the Ruins," Chara nods. Of course she knows, more than once she went down to the basement, where it was much cooler, to somehow change the atmosphere of the eternal autumn of this place. And the basement is like the coming winter. Chara doesn't like winter, but she's more used to it. "Don't you wonder what it's like? What monsters are there?"

Chara tears a flower cup from a vase on the table, fidgeting with it in her hands, and Asriel sees: she doesn't know if she's interested or not.

"But I can't go back?"

"You can't."

That's right, he closed the Ruins. Tore them away from the already small world of the monster, appropriated them and does not regret it. The hermits here grumble like old men that they don't give a damn, but whatever the king's child does, as long as it doesn't cry. Every time he hears this, he purses his lips into a thin line that is not visible under the white fur — yes, it was a childish act. If someone leaves the Ruins — they will not be able to return. Asriel doesn't hold anyone. _Asriel doesn't take anyone back._

"I don't want to leave Asriel alone," the monster twitches, looking up at Chara in surprise. She frowns, her nose down. _"My place is next to Asriel."_

The monster leaned back in his chair, ruffling the fur on his head. Feeling a pang of guilt, he looked down at the slightly trembling shoulders and sighed loudly. A large, but terribly warm and soft paw, larger even than her head, was a surprise to Chara. But it brought a little comfort to her little storm at heart.

_~~And how can I let her go after that?~~ _

_~~How can I leave after this?~~ _

***

_906 mark: people are growing very fast._

Who would have thought it? His mother always joked that other people's children grew up very quickly, but Chara did grow up quite _quickly_. Just a couple of years ago, she was a skinny girl, no bigger than a five year monster… She is taller now, her face narrower and paler, but her scarlet eyes still sparkle. And Asriel's children's sweater is still too big for her — it literally hangs like a knitted dress, which she ties with a satin ribbon so that it doesn't look quite clumsy.

"Do all people grow up that fast?" Asriel is stirring a Cup of Golden flower tea when Chara hisses softly to herself as she takes a bite of the pie. "More cautiously. How many times can I forget that even my fire makes the pie hot at first?"

The girl snorted, but the next time, before biting, she blew.

"All. Although I can be said to be developing with a slight delay," Asriel twirled the Cup between his fingers, chuckling with displeasure. Development-it directly depends on how the child is cared for. And let him try to give her all he could now.… Ten? I think she was ten when she fell in here… For the first ten years, she grew up far from his eyes. He doesn't know what the conditions were in her house, but he knows they weren't the best. And it's annoying, damn it. "But I'm only sixteen. I'm still growing. Don't worry."

Chara rubs the soft fur on the Dreemurr's hand - banal can't reach the top of his head. People are so small that looking at Chara against the background of such huge things in the house, it seems as if she is a little Thumbelina. Yes, it suits her. Chara loves flowers. Especially the buttercups that she grows with such trepidation at the very beginning of the Ruins.

"Yeah, but you're such a dwarf that you can be run over by any monster for thirteen years... Ah!"

Chara spits out the fur, pulling out the white hairs with her fingers, and looks displeased-displeased, almost disapproving. This person generally likes to bite, especially when dissatisfied.

"As if it's my fault that I'm human!"

They both freeze. Chara looks a little startled, purses her lips into a thin line under the monster's perplexed gaze, then abruptly turns away. Before Asriel can say anything, she mutters that she isn't hungry and leaves. From home. Most likely she went to the Buttercup field — it always calms her.

_As if it's my fault that I'm human._

What does it mean?

***

_Asriel is not subject to time._

Chara understands this quite clearly. She had just turned twenty three years old and was still a little girl against the background of a huge snow — white monster. He pats her on the head as he did thirteen years ago, heals her wounds, cooks with a minimal percentage of magic — still, monster food is different from human food, and, as it turns out, when people abuse it, it just turns them out. They found out about it a year and a half later — that was the limit of the Spell.

Asriel sees her as a child he once helped. Sees a representative of people he doesn't know anything about. Sees… He sees a lot of people in her face. She plays many roles, but the most difficult…

"I love you."

Her voice doesn't shake. He is calm. And she, too, is calm. She says this as something between _today on the Surface quite a good weather_ and _Assie, spiders again run for monsters, hoping to sell their drinks,_ and still not far from _Came Napstablook with news, it seems have monsters a slight overpopulation people_.

Asriel doesn't even look at her — just as he was watering the buttercups that covered most of the area at the beginning of the Ruins, so he is watering further. He even hums a tune to himself. It looks like the one that hands out from her pendant box. Did he really like her that much?

"Me, too, Chara. You're part of my family."

"Yeah."

... " _family_ ", the one that she can't tear off. Never. _She wouldn't take it off just for him._

***

At Chara's face is covered with wrinkles. They are very small, almost invisible. The little bugger hiding, while the man smiles — at such moments, scarlet eyes were like slits, some of which are collected in small mesh. Chara says that people have this kind of thing, that they often smile. A smile is a sign of happiness. And Chara is happy with him. Honestly.

Her body is still small, she will be crushed by any monster of thirteen years old, her face is pale, but covered with a soft blush. Her cheeks turn funny red when his hands wrap around her face, so Dreemurr likes to do it when she doesn't expect it.

And one day a man falls to them.

Child.

A ragamuffin with tanned skin, a bold look in his eyes, red hair like fire. Chara leads them to their home, but screams in fright when a ten year old boy attacks him. Asriel didn't even try to defend himself, just moved away, and the boy nodded clumsily at the chair. Asriel, honestly, wasn't afraid… Until he saw the eyes of Chara's.

The dark scarlet ones that looked like blood were now the brightest shade of red.

**S t o p.**

Asriel could not do anything, the kid was literally put on the threshold of Snowdin.

"So what… Was it now?" Asriel stared at the purple door, like all the Ruins. The child clearly didn't expect this reaction from Chara, even now — he was screaming as he knocked on the Ruins ' door.

"Brazen victim."

Asriel flinches, wincing uncomfortably. He still resents the memory of their first years together: it is not easy, you know, to get rid of the stubborn habits of the victim, which were nurtured for ten years. But that time has passed…

"Twenty five years," the man continues suddenly, clenching his hands into fists. "They said they were going to throw the victim off every twenty five years," Chara says, holding her head in her hands, staring almost madly at the floor. She shivers a little, cursing herself: how! How could she forget...! "They throw the craziest kid here once in a generation…"

Putting aside his prejudices, Asriel kneels in front of Chara, hugging her so hard that It doesn't hurt. Her eyes are blurred with treacherous tears and her thin fingers painfully dig into the snowwhite fur. She can't, Oh God, no, she will not be able to protect him from such victims. Asriel after all such simple-minded, soft and kind, he not can, Oh my God, not can respond them attack on attack. Chara not monster, over it time subject to, she slowly dies every day, every second, with every an extra breath from lungs.

_She's human, and she hates herself for it more than anything._

_***_

The second child Chara found was a girl. She was barely seven years old, but the outfit already said a lot. A deep blue tutu, Pointe shoes, and a neat bun of wavy hair.

Chara went out to meet the new resident ahead of Asriel, so that even if she wanted to, the girl could not harm the monster without hitting her. But this fear was so futile that Chara could barely contain a sigh of disappointment.

This child will not be so easily removed from the Ruins.

The few days the child had spent here had seemed unimaginably long to Chara. It was as if a ton of honey had suddenly been poured on the hands of a clock. Asriel was so taken with this new visitor and companion that he sometimes forgot about her. Of course he was remorseful, but still… Offensively. Unpleasant feelings prickled my heart. Fortunately, at least, the girl did not decide to stay here forever, asking to go home just four days later. Smart girl.

As she walked with her to Snowdean, Chara felt only calm.

**Asriel belongs only to her.**

...She never lived to see her third child.

***

Frisk stumbles awkwardly over a rock, almost flying out into a Buttercup field in the bright, Sunny light. He is waving his arms in a funny way, trying to regain his balance, but only thanks to a well-turned column does he not fall. The boy rubs his face, which is already almost completely covered with plasters, and then finally turns his attention to the monster.

Asriel stands out on a Golden background with a white-purple spot. A huge blot, which you want — do not want, but it is impossible not to notice.

Frisk might not have lived with Asriel for very long, driven on a long journey by an irritated Ghost at his back, but he had noticed that Asriel valued this place much more, making sure that even broken flowers recovered and could bloom again.

A low motif reached my ears, a little squeaky, but quite touching. Frisk frowned, noticing that the sound was from a small pendant in the shape of a heart, which Dreemurr never took off. So, she's been a music box all this time? Wow. It looks pretty old.

"How did you get here?"

"Let me in Vegetoid," Frisk approaches closer, leaning over the monster. Its shadow falls on Azriel's face, and he squints at the last child's unemotional face. "The barrier has fallen."

"I can feel it," Asriel let out a soft chuckle, then reached up and lightly patted Frisk's unruly hair. The boy immediately straightened up, feeling a discontented look on his back that sent cold sweat rolling down his back. "But why did you come back, Frisk?"

Frisk would like to know why he came back here. I couldn't look at the sad face… Parents who didn't know where their own son had gone. Frisk didn't promise to return it to Toriel and Asgor, but he hoped it might pass as a reason.

"Moms'… Mrs. Toriel hopes that you'll come back. She and Mr. Asgor are going to move to the Surface. Azriel, will you come with us?"

Frisk shrugs when he feels fingers digging into his skin, even through his sweater. I can hear someone else's hiss in my ear, an angry, discontented hiss that makes my blood run cold.

"Frisk, you're kidding, right?" Asriel laughs, even though she knows he's not joking. "I can't leave the Ruins. Someone has to take care of the flowers, you know?"

Frisk nods, though to be honest: he doesn't understand the answer at all. But someone else's fingers disappear from his shoulders. The boy hesitates uncomfortably near the monster, then jerks his head and leaves, only noticing at the border of light and semi-darkness that Chara is not following him, having settled gently next to the monster.

The scarlet eyes sparkle dangerously even at this distance.

"Someone has to take care of the mountain gardener, Frisk."

 _Get out of here without us, Frisk._ The boy twitches at the perceived threat of a small, almost younger girl, but still hurries away. Chara turns her warm gaze to the slowly dozing monster, running her small fingers weightlessly over its white fur.

_Chara's place is only next to Asriel._


End file.
